What’s the worst racket to ever win a grand slam final?

mark b. said:
Rosie Casals won the Wimbledon Doubles Crown (several times) using a Spalding Speedshaft. US Open Mixed. I had one of thosd hideous frames. C'mon guys, let's get back "on topic". She was a grand Slam singles runner up in 1970 US Open.
I believe it was all fiberglass. One of the first open throat non-metal frames.
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It is a wood frame with fiberglass lamination. The
twist weight was very high for its time
 
MAX PLY said:
When you hit it clean, the T-2000 treated you well. My nomination, alas is the Head Arthur Ashe Competition (including the Comp2)—one of my all time favorite players and I love the design—but the darn thing was just about unhittable.
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The Ashe got worse from 1 to the 2 as the frame played differently if the temperature changed & the Comp 3 is a noodle.
Th Edge size version, is the only one I still can hit with.
Tom Gorman, former Davis cup captain, said on a podcast that the model the pros got were much stiffer than retail.
 
PBODY99 said:
The Ashe got worse from 1 to the 2 as the frame played differently if the temperature changed & the Comp 3 is a noodle.
Th Edge size version, is the only one I still can hit with.
Tom Gorman, former Davis cup captain, said on a podcast that the model the pros got were much stiffer than retail.
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That was true of a lot of the wood racquets.
 
vsbabolat said:
That was true of a lot of the wood racquets.
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Add a lamination or trey. Back in 78 Wilson factory had a flood. Value City/Shottensteins received salvaged NBA leather basketballs, Duke footballs, and assorted Kramer racquets. 1st time saw Kramer Pro Select medium and heavy 5-5.25" racquets with the balance point printed on the shaft. 14-15+ oz racquets.
 
Ronaldo said:
Add a lamination or trey. Back in 78 Wilson factory had a flood. Value City/Shottensteins received salvaged NBA leather basketballs, Duke footballs, and assorted Kramer racquets. 1st time saw Kramer Pro Select medium and heavy 5-5.25" racquets with the balance point printed on the shaft. 14-15+ oz racquets.
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It most likely the Wilson warehouse had a flood as the Wilson tennis racquet factory was in Cortland, New York.
 
Aside from the T 2000, Maria Sharapova's racquet at 2004 Wimbledon. A Prince more attack racket. Don't ask me to explain it, if that weren't enough Prince soon released something called a Shark racquet, a terrible piece she never did much with.
 
@vsbabolat
Wilson Select at certain pro shops, they were really nice.
My Wilson Cliff Richey Ultra 3/8 Medium is still straight and sound after two seasons of use 1971 to 1973
all these years later.
Good memories, thanks
Enjoy the holidays
 
What aspect of the fibreglass/aluminium construction of the AA Comps was reactive enough to temperature variations to alter playability, the aluminium perhaps? The TEC of aluminium is apparently twice that of steel, but would this be noticeable given the presumed variability of ambient daily playing conditions isn’t typically that extreme, the middle of a desert notwithstanding? 8-B
 
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jmacdaununder2 said:
What aspect of the fibreglass/aluminium construction of the AA Comps was reactive enough to temperature variations to alter playability, the aluminium perhaps? The TEC of aluminium is apparently twice that of steel, but would this be noticeable given the presumed variability of ambient daily playing conditions isn’t typically that extreme, the middle of a desert notwithstanding? 8-B
I noticed the temperature effect only with the Boron Comp 2.
Start of the season 60 degrees F, 52 lbs. it was fine.
A month later 80 degree day, I had to cut the strings out as the frame played like a board.
No other frame I used from this era reacted like this for me including the
Yamaha Composite YCR-126 which has the same type of construction.
Just my experience, other local Ashe Comp players use base nylon strung once per season .
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RiverRat said:
Beat me to it. I'm not sure the youngsters on this forum have ever tried to play with one. It's incomprehensible how Jimbo managed to play with that racquet and why. He played with them long after they stopped making them.
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Truthfully I think that modern tennis with an iron elbow would be more than feasible. I’ve played many matches against utr 6-8 juniors with one for fun.
 
We can answer the OP’s question once we arrive at a consensus on what makes a racquet good or bad - meaning ‘never’!
 
Swingmaster said:
You might be right but I’ve been watching a lot of old women’s final replays from the past thirty years and some of those rackets look like junk.
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I was thinking the same thing, and this beauty is what came to mind:
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Prince Classic​
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bb32eb36a5b81ac46748f94931490326.jpg
​
If that isn't the cheapest-looking POS, I don't know what is.

EDIT: I'm not 100% certain she used that exact frame in her doubles wins, but she used a variant of it for certain.
 
McLovin said:
I was thinking the same thing, and this beauty is what came to mind:
​
Prince Classic​
​
bb32eb36a5b81ac46748f94931490326.jpg
​
If that isn't the cheapest-looking POS, I don't know what is.

EDIT: I'm not 100% certain she used that exact frame in her doubles wins, but she used a variant of it for certain.
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PJ
 
Looking through the thread I think the OP needs to create a poll for us. Looks like the contenders are:
T2000
Head Ashe Pro
The Spaulding Rosie played with (sorry I can’t go back to look it up)
The terrible Prince Frame Sharapova used
Personally I’d put any Babolat on the list but we all know that won’t fly.
 
@McLovin
Pam used the Classic in 1978.
By her doubles win London 1981 she was using the POG
I though the Classic looked short at the time.
Once Prince released the Graphite & Graphite II .................
 
WestboroChe said:
Looking through the thread I think the OP needs to create a poll for us. Looks like the contenders are:
T2000
Head Ashe Pro
The Spaulding Rosie played with (sorry I can’t go back to look it up)
The terrible Prince Frame Sharapova used
Personally I’d put any Babolat on the list but we all know that won’t fly.
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Names of some of the nominees
  1. Head Ashe Comp
  2. Spaulding Speed Shaft French wood core fiberglass facing
  3. Prince Shark
  4. Wilson T-2000
 
I know looking back on it the Prince Pro seems crappy (as most metal frames do to us now) but wasn’t that considered a high tech players frame of the day (as an alternative to wood)?

T2000 doesn’t quite belong in that same category as that is less a racquet and more a medieval torture device (designed to destroy your shoulder or elbow)
 
WestboroChe said:
I know looking back on it the Prince Pro seems crappy (as most metal frames do to us now) but wasn’t that considered a high tech players frame of the day (as an alternative to wood)?
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Possibly, but I just remember stories from back in the day that Jay Berger would frequent K-Mart stores in the town he was playing searching for more of his Prince Pros. Apparently that was the only place he could find them...
 
McLovin said:
Possibly, but I just remember stories from back in the day that Jay Berger would frequent K-Mart stores in the town he was playing searching for more of his Prince Pros. Apparently that was the only place he could find them...
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Bizarre. I just watched a bit of his 1990 USO match against Agassi. He definitely seems to be playing with a metal Prince cheapie. I honestly don't know how anyone can play with those. A few years ago I was doing a clinic and one of the older guys there had a Prince Pro. He could hit for sure but when you watched him you could see how much it flexed on impact and he had to swing so hard it would wear him out.
 
McLovin said:
Possibly, but I just remember stories from back in the day that Jay Berger would frequent K-Mart stores in the town he was playing searching for more of his Prince Pros. Apparently that was the only place he could find them...
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I remember that! Amazing that he never went to the Prince Graphite Oversize. I remember that with the high tensions that Prince recommended a lot those Prince Pro’s distorted
 
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vsbabolat said:
I remember that! Amazing that he never when to the Prince Graphite Oversize. I remember that with the high tensions that Prince recommended a lot those Prince Pro’s distorted
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I know a 5.5 level former college player/teaching pro that plays Prince Pro OS with whatever poly he can get for free; he strings at 39# so there’s no distortion issue.
 
My 1st memory and experience with tennis was watching two local teaching pros rally in a auto dealership garage with cutoff brooms. Should make that stick....................mandatory for the Aus Open. That'll be the last word for worst racquet
 
Ronaldo said:
My 1st memory and experience with tennis was watching two local teaching pros rally in a auto dealership garage with cutoff brooms. Should make that stick....................mandatory for the Aus Open. That'll be the last word for worst racquet
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It’s worst racquet to win a GS title. If it was just worst racquet I still say my old Prince More Precision is a candidate. God what a piece of junk that was.
 
WestboroChe said:
It’s worst racquet to win a GS title. If it was just worst racquet I still say my old Prince More Precision is a candidate. God what a piece of junk that was.
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If everyone uses a broom someone will win the title and perhaps sweep the competition.
 
What about Lendl's Adidas GTX Pro? Is it any wonder he never won Wimbledon playing with that club? Have no idea how you could volley with that thing.

iu
 
512f-4Rfu6L._SX333_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Anyone read this book? Looks like Roddick used his modern “pat the dog” forehand style with the pan. Probably got some pretty good lag with it. But it’s pretty pathetic that the author couldn’t pull out a victory. Come on man.
 
Swingmaster said:
512f-4Rfu6L._SX333_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

Anyone read this book? Looks like Roddick used his modern “pat the dog” forehand style with the pan. Probably got some pretty good lag with it. But it’s pretty pathetic that the author couldn’t pull out a victory. Come on man.
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My neighbor tells me he witnessed this personally.
 
Open Stance said:
What about Lendl's Adidas GTX Pro? Is it any wonder he never won Wimbledon playing with that club? Have no idea how you could volley with that thing.

iu
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I'm not personally familiar with it but it looks like a lot of mid 80's graphite/composite frames. What about it would make it difficult to volley with? I have to think that given how much he wanted to win Wimby he must have looked at his equipment.
 
WestboroChe said:
My neighbor tells me he witnessed this personally.
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I just found the original article on the internet which told the story of the author actually beating Roddick. So why the heck did the author call it “Andy Roddick beat me with a frying pan?” Was there a rematch? Hmm. Anyway, it was pretty cool of Roddick to play a whole match with a pan in the middle of his career. I doubt Delpo would try that.
 
Swingmaster said:
I just found the original article on the internet which told the story of the author actually beating Roddick. So why the heck did the author call it “Andy Roddick beat me with a frying pan?” Was there a rematch? Hmm. Anyway, it was pretty cool of Roddick to play a whole match with a pan in the middle of his career. I doubt Delpo would try that.
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Perhaps Andy did it on more than one occasion. It was probably his schtick that he did whenever he made an appearance at some charity event or what have.

I don't know his exact words but it was something like, "I watched Andy Roddick beat the local pro at my old tennis club with a frying pan" It was his response to my exhortations that he upgrade from his cheap, arm killing Wilson to something a little nicer. So it may not have been this guy.

I reminded him that Andy would never play a real match with a frying pan. Most of these pros are fanatical about their equipment. The stories of Borg and Becker and Sampras and even Del Potro's devotion to having everything be just so crazy.

Oh and obviously it wasn't a whole match. It was like a tie break or something. I believe the idea is that Andy and the rube start playing and obviously he can't hang with Andy so Andy offers to use the pan as a handicap and then proceeds to wow everyone by playing well with it, win or lose.
 
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